Category: Travel
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More Thermals, Geysers, and Rainforest
I’ve seen plenty of thermal pools and geysers, now. I also visited yet another rainforest area. There are so many hot springs around Rotorua that the town park even has a bunch of hot pools, which you can see for free. To the southeast, there is another rainforest area, which has a good collection of…
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Thermal Country
Heading north from the Tongariro volcano area, I passed into “Thermal Country”. New Zealand has a number of thermal areas with geysers, hot springs, and fumeroles. It is similar to Yellowstone Nat’l Park. However, in NZ, the areas are spaced apart, and each one costs around $25 to visit! The Wai-O-Rapu area has a geyser which…
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Volcano Country
Yesterday, I hiked the Tongariro Crossing. This is one of the famous “tramps” of the North Island – and it is fantastic! It is 17km, with 800m of climbing, and 1100m of descending. For $25 dollars, various transport companies will bus you to the trailhead, and pick you up at the end. Unfortunately, when the…
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Wellington
I spent three days in Wellington. It is a pleasant city, but, beyond that, not much different from any other city. The Lonely Planet book states that the population is merely 200,000 people. However, like San Francisco, the “core” city is small, but it has many suburbs around it that expand the population. I saw…
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South Island Finished
I spent the last few days of my South Island time puttering around Nelson, the Marlborough Sounds, and Picton. Then I took the ferry from Picton to Wellington. Interestingly, the ferry from South Island to North Island travels mostly east, and a little south! Wellington is slightly south of Picton. The ferry is large, and…
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West Coast
I am finished with the West Coast of the South Island. I have a few more days to explore the North Coast, and then I take a ferry to the North Island. I have been in New Zealand for one month, and I have another month left. On the same day the idiots were injured…
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Franz Josef: the full Monty
Here is a photo of the entire Franz Josef Glacier. I made the gruelling hike up to Alex Knob to take this photo. The round trip is over seven hours, and you gain 1000 metres of elevation. I hauled the 4×5 camera up with me. Once again, the hike is classified as moderate. It would…
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Glaciers == Fun && Glaciers == Danger
Yesterday, I went on a full-day guided trek through the Franz Josef Glacier, and today I saw two people injured by the same glacier. One was injured quite severely. Luckily, no one was killed! On other notes, a good night’s rest staved off any hint of a cold. As a bonus, I have no allergy…
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Glaciers!
You know you are in some real mountains when they have glaciers. Yesterday evening I hiked up a valley to Rob Roy Mountain, which has a glacier. Nearby Mt Aspiring also hosts a glacier. I have learned that when the Dept of Conservation description of a trail says “moderate” difficulty, it actually means “difficult” (or…
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Middle Earth
The area around Queenstown should be renamed Middle Earth. Those locations were used heavily in the filming of The Lord of the Rings. The photo above shows the location used for Isengard (the tower of the wizard who turned evil). I have bought a book detailing the locations used in the films. I will be…
Michael Chmilar's Travels 